Transparency News 12/30/15

State and Local Stories

HB 220 (Del. Scott Taylor)
Provides that the personnel, working papers, and correspondence record exemption shall not be construed to authorize the withholding of any resumes or applications submitted by persons who are appointed by the Governor. The bill further provides that the resumes and applications for appointment submitted by persons who are appointed by the Governor shall be available to the public upon request. The bill contains technical amendments.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+HB220

SB (Sen. Dave Marsden)
Requires the posting of minutes of the local electoral boards' meetings on the local electoral board's website or the official website of the county or city. Draft meeting minutes are required to be posted no later than 10 
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+SB89

TO TRACK THESE AND OTHER BILLS THROUGHOUT THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION, GO TO VCOG'S ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE CHART

Hopewell’s City Council erred last January in discussing electing its leadership behind closed doors, a Circuit Court judge has ruled in what open-government advocates believe to be the first legal test of its kind. Judge W. Allan Sharrett sided with Hopewell resident Janice Denton, whose initial complaint that the meeting violated the state’s Freedom of Information Act was dismissed by a lower court last February. Sharrett admonished the council to hold such discussions in public in a three-page written decision delivered last week. 
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(The ruling, posted last week on VCOG’s website)

An attorney for Paul Hurley is asking a federal judge to sentence his client to only six months house arrest for his role in the BVU corruption scandal. Hurley, the 74-year-old former mayor and BVU Authority board chairman, is to be sentenced Jan. 14 in U.S. District Court in Abingdon on one count each of mail fraud and lying to a federal grand jury. He could face up to 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge and five years on the perjury charge. “Mr. Hurley was not involved in the bigger issue of kickbacks with third-party contractors or exorbitant perks,” attorney Dan Bieger wrote in the memorandum filed Tuesday. “His role in the offense is that he received race tickets and was not truthful about how and why he obtained the race tickets in his testimony before the grand jury. If he had testified before the grand jury more accurately, one wonders if he would even have been prosecuted for such a small offense.” In the 14-page memo, Bieger makes the case that Hurley had previously led an exemplary life, was involved in public service and has no prior criminal record. It also references his wife’s health.
Herald Courier


National Stories
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A clearer picture of the academic scandal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s athletic program —  in which the university allegedly failed to comply with several key operating principals — is emerging. An e-mail was found by WFMY in which a TA wrote to the former associate director of the academic support program. The TA typed: “I want to let you know that I passed all your football players. Most of them actually passed on their own. (name withheld) and (name withheld) were the only two that had averages below 60% but I gave them both a D.” The TA also wrote that two players had “suspiciously similar exams” and “may have also been passing a calculator back and forth during the exam, which is certainly not allowed.” This document is one page of millions of records the school plans on releasing from the investigation.
USA TODAY

Editorials/Columns

After tireless efforts by Resort City (Virginia Beach) brass to turn a Southern beach town into an urban center, we now not only have the tallest building in Virginia surrounded by a slew of national chain restaurants, we have a mayor who’s been convicted of conflict of interest. Plus, there’s reportedly a federal probe into actions of another member of the City Council. Ah, city life. Still, Sessoms’ legal problems should serve as an object lesson to other public officials. This conviction may be minor, but it is hardly insignificant to citizens who expect fair, open and good government.
Virginian-Pilot

Although Florida is widely considered to have among the strongest open-records laws in the nation, that reputation is imperiled every year when lawmakers in Tallahassee seek to pass exemptions that nibble away at the public’s right to know how its government operates. The latest attempt to amend the statutes, though, represents a potentially big bite. With the backing of the powerful League of Cities, two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah and Rep. Greg Steube of Sarasota, are sponsoring bills (SB 1220 and HB 1021) that would amend a provision that currently requires state and local governments that unlawfully refuse to provide public records to pay reasonable attorneys fees and costs to plaintiffs. By changing one word — from saying a government agency “shall” pay attorney’s fees and costs to “may” — the measures would leave to a judge’s discretion whether a government would have to pay for its malfeasance.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal